Black Bean Salad: A Simple and Healthy Recipe!

Next month, we’ll be giving away a free e-book to all our New Latina subscribers!

The New Latina Guide to a Fabulous 2011 Year! is a labor of love, a compilation of short, inspirational pieces from more than 15 Latinas (and one awesome Latino) on everything from motherhood, career, beauty, fashion, finance, cultura, lifestyle, creativity and much, much more!

We want you to have a fantastic year, so we’ve gathered a group of really talented and amazing women who are giving you their best tips and advice on how to live your best Latina life!

Stay tune for more on this exciting free e-book, especially designed with the New Latina in mind!

To give you a peek into what’s inside, we’re sharing one the tasty, easy and healthy recipes offered by Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack, author of the forthcoming Muy Bueno Cookbook. Enjoy!

Black Bean Salad

The ease of making this salad is second only to its taste. This is such a tasty salad and is the perfect healthy side dish. My kids love it all by itself or as an appetizer with tostada chips. As a mom I love it too because I know everything in it is healthy and oh so good for them. I especially enjoy telling guests how easy this salad is to prepare.

Add the tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, corn, serrano pepper (optional) and the liquid mixture to the beans. Add avocados (optional) at the end and toss gently. Chill salad for about 30 minutes or overnight to marinade.

Dr. Perez-Litwin is the Founder & CEO of ELLA Leadership Institute, a multi-platform professional development organization designed to advance the careers and leadership of women. She's the creative force behind the LATINAS THINK BIG™ national tour, sponsored and live-streamed by Google.

As a transplanted Okie living now in Aztec, NM, I love Mexican food, and so does my husband. I learned to make tortillas when I lived in Brownsville, TX many years ago. I rode to school where I taught with a young woman who would carry my problems and questions home to her mother and bring me the answers the next day. My husband was building ocean-going drilling rigs and the men he worked with brought fresh, homemade tortillas for lunch, not sandwiches. They’d get a spot on the deck hot with torches to heat their lunches. My husband decided he wanted fresh tortillas, too, and that’s why I learned–he cooked whatever meat was on special on Friday night and I’d make the soft tacos mornings from the tortillas I made on Sunday, wrap them in aluminum foil, and send my husband off happy. We’re not together now, but it was a happy time, and Brownsville and Matamoros still happy places. Ann